Month: January 2025

Guys, it’s warm again. Like, warm warm. As in I’m sunburned and sweaty, thus have been returned to my natural state, the way the gods intended me to live. I’m absolutely chuffed.

I have no actual media of anyone riding any of my horses in the past week, since no one has come with me to my lessons and I’m spending the training rides observing and listening, not videoing. But there are some filler pics at least, because duh of course there are.

I feel like at some point my updates feel repetitive and anti-climactic. We’re in week 5 of our full time training program and while I’m sure you’d be more entertained by stories of drama and big problems, that’s not been the case thus far (knock on wood, because horses are horses and people are people and ya know how that goes). Week over week, the improvement is obvious. Presto has stepped up to what’s being asked of him, and aside from a tiny protest last week when he got mad about the counter canter (he still gets confused about picking up what he thinks is the “wrong lead” and gets annoyed when he picks up what he thinks is the right lead, even if it’s not the one you actually asked for, and then has to trot and try again. He’s like “what do you mean I’m wrong, I’m never wrong!”) and his protests are always short-lived and not much to write home about. He does the horse equivalent of a harrumph, then he always goes home, thinks about it, and comes out better the next time. He’s smart, and he always wants to be right.

He seems settled and happy in this new schedule, even though it’s definitely more intense than what he’s been used to prior. He’s not getting worked ragged in each lesson or ride, sometimes they’re actually quite short and succinct, but everything has purpose and intentionality. He does enjoy working and learning, and Ellie’s patient and quiet but clear style just seems to work for him. He likes her, he’s always better after a training ride, and it carries forward to my own rides on him.

Last week he had a dressage ride with Ellie, and then a jump day where she got on him for the first 15mins, then I got on him. This week was supposed to be the clinic with Kai Steffen-Meier but Kai had some issues with his visa getting into the country and the clinic had to be postponed. We’ve filled up that time with another flat ride from Ellie and then I had a dressage lesson the next day. Today we’re jumping a bit and then tomorrow we’ve got an XC school on the docket. Generally my program is 3 things per week, a mix of lessons and training rides, but since we only had 2 last week due to the shit weather, we’re tacking on an extra to this week.

Despite the ramped up schedule Presto still seems happy to go to work. He still comes when I call him, he still acts like the total ham he always has, he still self-loads in the trailer, and he still enjoys his time over at their farm. Honestly, I think he digs the extra adventures and attention. This is not a horse that craves a quiet, predictable life. I wasn’t sure how he’d feel about getting in the trailer a lot and having to genuinely work harder, but so far so good.

I am also love-love-loving being in a full time program. I’m a lover of progress, and after having felt stagnant for basically the last year and a half, I fiiiiiiiiiiiinally feel like we’re getting things rolling again. Yes there are training holes to fill in, and those won’t happen overnight, but I feel solidly that we’re trending in the right direction.

Yesterday our favorite bodyworker was in town, who hasn’t seen Presto since last spring, and she had a lot of positive things to say about how he felt, his muscle tone, and how he’s matured and filled out since she last saw him. Considering the increased workload this month I expected her to tell me he felt a bit sore and stiff all over but aside from a little bit of tightness over his SI (that’s been REALLY working hard lately) and glutes, she thought he really felt great.

I’m overall pretty thrilled with month 1. I feel like I need to be doing something to keep track of things and logging the progress… maybe a little mini-journal or something. Either way, this is the first time in a really really really long time that I feel like we’re in the right program, with the right team, and headed in the right direction.

Which also makes me just incredibly nervous that at some point things are bound to go tits-up somehow, but for now, we ride the wave. I feel like when I say too many positive things people accuse me of not being authentic but like… I well and truly have nothing negative to report at the moment. Enjoy it while it lasts, people.

In other news, the return of the nice weather also marks the return of Rubes to work. He’s been mostly good. He was a little excited the first ride back, but other than a few small scoots he kept it together. I got all our RRP stuff submitted last week (gah I forgot about the vet letter until just a few days before, my poor vet I’m so sorry) so that part is done. I gotta figure out how to have more hours in the day so I can get cracking on some more off-property adventures for Rubes.

He also got some bodywork done and was particularly fond of the butt rubbies. She said muscularly he felt pretty good and wasn’t sore anywhere in particular but skeletally (is that a word?) he feels a bit stiff, which is nothing new. She recommended I keep up the regular chiro and was very excited to hear that a Magnawave is on the way, because she thinks it’ll help him a lot.

Other than stuff with those kiddos, we had a few other notable goings-on over the past week. On Saturday Michele was in town, so I took her and her hubby on an abbreviated Tour de Ocala. It’s always fun with first-timers. And Michele got to see Henry, meet Rubes, and see Presto for the first time since he was like a 2yo. He’s lookin a wee bit different than he used to! I have known Michele forever (seriously like… probably 20 years almost?) but haven’t seen her in person in years so it was great to catch up.

I also went to a showjumping course design lecture at WEC a couple days ago, which was super fun in that nerdy horse girl way. Yas please tell me all about bending lines and triple bars and how you decide what to build where. I LOVE IT. One of the perks of Ocala during season – there’s no lack of free educational events. Helps sorta make up for the massive increase in traffic and people. And it was over by 8pm, which is perfect because I still made it to bed before 9pm.

Wild and glamorous lifetstyle, this.

Just in case I’ve never been clear, I hate winter. Moving to Florida has spared me from the worst of it I suppose but we’re supposed to get a very small dusting of freezing rain/potentially snow overnight and let me tell you how little I’m interested in anything frozen coming from the sky and/or any weather below 60 degrees. I’m a lizard, give me warmth and sun.

I think we’re just gonna call the first few days of this week a loss and we can resume regularly scheduled program when the weather is less hateful. Ain’t none of us down here built for this.

Luckily I still have plenty to talk about day though, because last week was busy!

Presto had two training rides last week – a flat and a jump – and I had a jump lesson on Saturday. I feel like he gets better and better every week, and with each training ride. He’s getting stronger, he’s using himself better, and he’s subsequently starting to fill in some of those areas that have been lacking. His wide-behind tendency in the canter is improving massively, which is, unsurprisingly, helpful to just about everything.

Over fences the focus has been on adjustability while staying in front of the leg. For Thursday’s training ride she was going down the lines doing different numbers of strides. He is more amenable than he once was, but still gets a little angry. At the end of the ride I was telling her how he has the loosest nosebands in the world because if he ever feels like they’re remotely too tight he has an epic tantrum, and on the way home that thought was ruminating in my head. I was like hmmm… he’s been jumping in that beval bit with the little leather curb strap for a long time now, but does he actually need the leather strap anymore? He’s a lot more trained and rideable these days.

So for my lesson on Saturday I decided to try an experiment and take the strap off. Immediately it felt better. Like I could really push him up into my hand and he’d happily stay there. So cue me feeling really stupid that it took me this long for it to dawn on me that he needed a step down in the bitting department. Ellie immediately noticed the difference too and thought it was much better, he was less fussy about the half-halts or having to whoa in the lines. Not UNfussy… I think he lives to fuss, after all, but much LESS fussy for sure.

Presto was superb for the lesson and I think it’s one of the best we’ve ever had, if not the best. The training rides and the consistency of the program are making a difference for sure. I’m starting to feel like we’re finally headed in the right direction rather than aimlessly treading water. I wish I had media from it but alas I went alone.

If he continues to be more rideable and up into my hand/in front of my leg, we might be able to bump him down to a plain loose ring to jump in at some point. I don’t think we’re totally there yet, sometimes he gets a bit full of himself and tells me my opinion sucks, but ya know… we’re working in the right direction. The beval bit has very little leverage to it anyway. We’ll see how he is at the next show without the strap. Hopefully he doesn’t go rogue on XC.

Speaking of which, we’re entered for Ocala 1 at FHP in a couple weeks. Hopefully the weather gets its shit together by then.

Other than the lessons and training rides, last week’s free time was mostly occupied by Magnawave training. It was A LOT. I dunno what I was expecting, but the Equine course alone was 36 videos and multiple tests. And some of those videos were almost an hour. The good news is, I learned a lot. Like a whole lot. It was mega-thorough. It went over all the details on how it works, the terms you need to know, basic whole horse wellness use vs targeting specific issues or ailments, a whole lot of anatomy especially what things connect or correlate to where, what attachments were best for what thing, PEMF vs other therapies, etc etc. It was super cool, tbh, even if more time consuming than I expected. I wish I could share some of the pics and videos from it but alas that’s proprietary information. I have an absurd amount of notes.

Either way, I aced the exams, so I competed my equine certification.

And I did the small animal course (I want to use the magnawave on Mina too, I think it’ll help) and for funsies continued on and did the livestock course. So now I’ve got the basic, equine, small animal, and livestock certifications. Did you know you could PEMF animals like snakes and turkeys? I’ve never thought about it I guess, but now I know how. What a time to be alive. I can’t wait for my machine to come to I can put my training to good use (to be clear, NOT on snakes or turkeys).

As for Rubes, he’s still hanging in there. I’ve ridden him some, but honestly I’m kind of waiting for the weather to improve a bit. He is really excited to be alive right now, and definitely athletic enough to yeet me at any moment, so riding him on days like this when I’m mostly alone on the farm doesn’t seem like the best way to guarantee a safe and happy 2025. Luckily it’ll be warm again next week, so giving him a few days or a week off here and there when it’s polar AF isn’t the end of the world.

Otherwise the last week was mostly filled with content creation stuff and some retail hours, and I ended up spending a lot of time at HITS. I gotta say, I think the vibes are better at HITS than WEC. I’d totally consider hopping over to HITS for some jumper classes but have very little to no interest in WEC. There’s more of an “electric” atmosphere at WEC, if you need that kind of thing for whatever reason, but HITS feels so much more chill and isn’t a concrete and asphalt conglomeration. Plus there are acai bowls. I’m sold with that fact alone.

I’m not really sure yet what all is on the docket for this week besides shots and coggins for everyone and probably lessons and/or training rides at some point. Next Monday and Tuesday we’re signed up to ride with Kai Steffen-Meier, the Belgian chef d’equipe. He’ll be at my trainer’s farm teaching so I figured that would be kind of a fun full-circle opportunity. For those who haven’t been following this blog since the dawn of time (or like 2015) it was actually a trip to Kai’s farm in Belgium that sealed the deal on my love for Mighty Magic, and hence started me down the road to breed my own.

So you could say that all of this it’s partially Kai’s fault, really.

In all seriousness, he’s had and ridden a lot of Mighty Magics, so I feel like he might have some good insight and input. Should be fun!

I’m endeavoring this year to do better at publicly thanking the people and businesses that really shine, fully believing that while we all like to share the horror stories and bad experiences (looking at you, State Line Tack) “the good guys” need more props. I’ve come to realize that we have some power as bloggers, and we can use it can make a difference for small businesses, so in the interest of supporting our community – let’s do it. Especially if it’s a woman-owned, US-based business like Equiluxe Tack. And no, before we even start this, I don’t have any affiliate links in this post. The links here are for your convenience only.

This store first caught my eye on Instagram, I think last year during my big Black Friday Sales List extravaganza. I’ve since been following them on Insta, and upon perusing their website I noticed they had a seriously extensive riding shirt collection. So many of the smaller brands that you don’t see in a ton of stores, unique designs, etc. I have a bit of an obsession with fun and interesting shirts, so they really reeled me in with that one. The variety of what they offer in general is really well-curated IMO, from larger brands to smaller ones, and from clothing to tack. Sometimes you get tired of seeing the same stuff over and over, ya know? Show me something cool! Equiluxe does that.

The next thing that caught my eye was the return policy. A lot of times I’m between sizes, and if it’s a brand I’ve never seen in person, usually I just have to guess. Because of that, in those instances I tend to always look closely at a store’s return policy before I do an online order. There are very few that are quite as good as the one Equiluxe offers, which for US customers includes free returns and exchanges for up to 120 days from purchase date for new items, a “fit guarantee” (free returns or exchanges until you get the perfect fit on whatever item you order – human or equine), lifetime returns for store credit if you mess up and go beyond the 120 days, and no restocking fees.

If you’re on the fence about something, this store is definitely a good “safe” option.

Free US shipping on all orders is freakin bomb, too. Most online stores have gone more and more towards higher dollar amount thresholds for orders to qualify for free shipping, but as of now Equiluxe has not done that. I am an absolute sucker for free shipping… that adds up!

Anyway, back to the goodies. Like I said, what caught my eye originally was the wide selection of smaller brands (they have a page where you can see all the brands here… I love it when websites do that). I went looking for the Equestrian Club Lenna Blaq shirt, because I’ve wanted an Equestrian Club shirt forever but am solidly in between sizes on their size chart.

I also needed some new rubber reins (y’all ever have that thing happen where all your rubber reins decide to die within like 6 months of each other? That was me in 2024. I’ve had to almost entirely revamp my reins collection…) and have had my eye on the Sixteen Cypress sheepskin pads forever. I was getting ready to start riding Rubes at that time, so I thought he deserved some non-sticky reins and a nice fluffy pad (he loves fluff even more than I do).

Anyway, I’m nothing if not an annoying person with questions, but they were great about helping me out. The Equestrian Club shipment was still en route to them and I did have to wait a few days for that to ship to me. They emailed to let me know and apologized for the delay, which I appreciated even though it wasn’t a big deal to me. Luckily the shirt fit so I didn’t have to exercise their return policy, but the communication I’ve had with the owner gave me faith that it wouldn’t have been a problem. They seem really dedicated to having happy customers and were incredibly nice.

As for the items themselves, I quite like everything and have been using/wearing for a while now. The Lenna Blaq shirt is right up my alley with the interesting half and half design plus perforations (this is Florida, gimme holey shirts), the Correct Connect thumb grip reins are bomb (I was on the fence about these before I got them – another reason why this store seemed like a good bet – but really like how they feel in my hands), and the Sixteen Cypress pad is incredibly good quality. I wasn’t sure if it would be cut forward enough for my extra-forward monoflap, but it works and is definitely one of the prettiest pads I have.

Thanks Equiluxe for being fabulous to work with… you’ll definitely be seeing more orders from me. If y’all are on the hunt for more good stores to order from, add them to the list!

Well, y’all, when I asked to be put in a program, I got PUT in a PROGRAM. Last week Presto had a training ride and I had two lessons, plus our first recognized show since last April. It’s a little bit like drinking from a firehose, but not in a bad way, if that makes sense? Like yes please hit me with all the education, please and thank you.

Since we’ve got a lot of ground to cover in this post, I’ll try to keep it fairly succinct. Patreon folks, y’all have the (very) long, detailed version on your dashboard in the form of a Chores Chat and lots of video, but ain’t no way all of that is getting typed out here. So – a more summarized version of events, here we go!

Last week Presto had a training ride on Monday (dressage), which was superb. He seems to really like Ellie and her patient, quiet but very clear and direct style of riding works well for him. He looked fantastic, had a couple lightbulb moments, and carried it forward to my next ride. Presto has always been very good at retention, so good training rides have a particularly long-lasting impact on him. They are fantastic bang for the buck when it comes to his education.

On Wednesday we hopped around a few XC questions at their farm, probably more for my benefit than for his. I just wanted to do a little brush-up before the show, make sure I remember how to go forward and make sure that he was focused and remembered he’s an event horse. Which… he was NOT focused in the beginning at all, because their XC is at the top of a hill that he’s never crested before, so he found the views quite fascinating. That field backs up to the O’Connors place, which is huge and very interesting according to Presto. We had a drive-by at a brush skinny early on because he legit was staring off at something else, but that seemed to humble him enough to make him pay attention and he was really good after that. We did some turning questions and more skinnies to give him something a little bit harder, thus requiring more of his attention.

On Friday, the day before the show, I ran through my test real quick with Alex, he gave me a few little tweaks that were super helpful, and then we jumped around a small course. Ellie suggested we try jumping him the day before the show to check in with the rideability and re-enforce everything we’ve been working on with getting him deeper to the jumps, pushing off the ground, and making a good shape in the air. I haven’t tried that, I’ve always flatted him the day before as seems to be standard in our world, but I was open to seeing how it went. We didn’t do a whole lot, just enough to be a bit of a reminder for both of us, but he was jumping great. In the last month or so he’s really started to power off the ground and follow through with his jump much better behind. He’s starting to feel like a whole different animal… a grown up boy, if you will.

That takes us all the way to this past weekend, which was our first “real” show back since last spring. Thanks to my broken ankle and then his month-long abscess from hell, it’s literally been almost 8 months since we ran a Modified or a recognized, and in that time he only ran one other full XC course, Training at a schooling show. Mostly I wanted to use this show as a bit of a litmus test to see where we’re really at, heading into season. Was he gonna pull any of his spooky, spinny nonsense? Did I remember how to event? Did Modified look ginormous now? It was an information-gathering journey. I did not expect perfection, I just wanted to have a positive outing.

Originally the forecast had the polar front reaching all the way down to us, which thank the lawd didn’t happen. I would have died. But we did have a cold front blow through essentially during dressage, which made for some stiff 40-something degree breezes blowing right up the horse’s butts. There were some yeehaws happening all over the place. Presto, to his credit, kept himself together. Barely. Like… just baaaaaarely.

Ellie had me doing some rapid-fire trot/canter transitions in warmup to get Presto’s attention and get him in front of my leg. He was tense, for sure, and just waiting for something to happen, but trying to be obedient. When we got in the ring he was…. hmmm…. how to describe it… I guess “on the muscle” is a good description. The tension remained. He squealed for the first few strides of canter, and he made precision a little bit difficult.

There were no big issues, but it definitely was not our best work. Kind of a bummer because last week he’d really started to put some pieces together with the quality of his gaits, and I didn’t get to show that due to the tension. Horses gonna horse, though. We were riding in front of the judge that always likes him, and still managed a 31-something, so it was far from a tragedy. Just… not nearly what it could have been. Granted, it could have also been worse. Either way, whatever. Dressage done and dusted.

We had showjumping a couple hours later, so I walked the course and then sat and watched some of the Prelim go to see how the lines were riding. Aside from the combinations all of the related distances were quite far apart, which makes it a bit of a “choose your own adventure” in a way I never really love. Please give me fewer options, I don’t always make great decisions.

It didn’t help that pretty much every Prelim round that I watched did something differently. Some were good, some were not, but everything rode best if you just kept coming forward (what a surprise y’all) so in the end that was my plan. I met Ellie at warmup again, where she had me start by cantering the crossrail each way just like we start every jump lesson at home by cantering a cavaletti on a circle. The point is to get him into my outside rein, pushing from his inside hind, and staying balanced and rideable in a smaller canter before we really start jumping.

Then we jumped the bigger vertical a couple times, then a big oxer a couple times, and he was super. Like really jumping well. I was succeeding in finding the deeper distance that they’re wanting me to put him to, and he was using using his body in the air and following through with his jump behind.

He went in the ring and was actually quite professional. I commented to Ellie that I wanted to trot him in past the judge’s stand so he could see all the people/stuff/golf carts congregated there, and the gate person oh so kindly let me in early, before the rider ahead of me jumped the last line, so I could do just that. Fist bump to the gate person.

We went in and actually had a really great first 10 jumps. Unfortunately, there were 11 of them. Presto had been really rideable and jumping SUPER up to that point, and I actually managed to find my way to the deeper distances reliably well. The last jump, though… my bad. It was a single oxer on the short side, after a bending line liverpool down to a oxer-vertical two stride. That rode great. Really truly. All I had left to do was turn right and jump the single oxer.

Alas, he landed on the left lead and instead of being organized and taking a stride or two to set him up properly for the lead change before I turned, I just… pulled on the inside rein, which made Presto kinda mad so he did a little mini-prop, which caused me to lose my right stirrup. I knew only one thing in that moment: I didn’t have enough time to spend dicking around fishing for a stirrup right before the last jump. So I grabbed some mane, told Presto to take the wheel, and went to the jump with one stirrup. To his immense credit, he jumped it, despite the fact that we got there like a hot mess on a half stride. It weren’t cute. I was so close to jumping a really good clear round, y’all, so close. Alas, I dickered it good at the last jump and we added a rail to our score. Boo. I’m mad at myself, because he really was jumping great and I know better than to make a dumb mistake that. Live and learn, I suppose. Hopefully, anyway.

Either way, that brought us to the end of Saturday and the completion of the first two phases. I popped over to XC and walked the course with Alex (well… rode around it in his golf cart, which is why I don’t have course walk pics for you, but here’s a map) real quick before heading out. By that point it was getting colder so I was happy to get home before lunch time, turn Presto back out, and try to warm up a bit.

Granted, if I thought I was cold on Saturday, I was wrong. Sunday… that was cold. My ride time was at 9:44, and when I pulled Presto out at 8:15 it was like 34 degrees. That’s fine. Tooootally fine. I definitely have the clothes for that (spoiler alert, I do not have the clothes for that). Florida has not been Floridaing very well this winter, I gotta say.

Back when they were saying the polar front was gonna make it down here, I did order a little thermal mock turtleneck and some tights, and ended up wearing those under my show clothes. I kept my ski pants and puffer jacket on over top of everything until it was time to tack up, and it was almost tolerable. I couldn’t feel my hands or feet, but who needs those?

While I was frozen in the cold, Presto was, shall we say, invigorated.

Ok he was feral.

Like I think he was trotting above the ground for the first 5 minutes of warmup before he started to become part of the earth again. Once he seemed like he was checking in for duty we got to work moving his canter forward and back and making sure I could put his shoulders and haunches where I wanted them. I jumped a little house, then a bigger house, then the bigger house on an angle, then popped over the skinny brush wedge twice. He was definitely forward-thinking but seemed rideable enough, so I went over to the start box and away we went a few minutes later.

He was overall really good. We popped over the log box and one and then had a long stretch to the coop at 2. Alex said to spend the beginning making sure that he was focused on me, to keep constantly checking in and and moving his canter around to keep him focused. By 3 he had definitely clicked into XC mode, popping over a little house and then the trakehner at 4. On the way to 5 he did have a little small spook… there used to be a keyhole jump down there and I swear he was like “where the f did the keyhole go???” for a hot second before he put his brain back on his own task. The downside of a smart horse, he never forgets anything.

We jumped through the line in the trees, then came back up the hill to the MIM oxer (I told Alex that if he was gonna spook and spin anywhere, it would probably be up that hill where there are lots of unused fences in the treeline… Presto always thinks unused fences are demons.) and I very deliberately insisted that he gallop up into my hand and stay a bit rounder in his overall outline so that he couldn’t really pop his head up and look around too much. He sees things that don’t exist, ya know. He jumped the MIM oxer great, then we were back in the big field and over the step table, which brought us to the coffin.

Alex had said to whoa and rebalance before we turned, get lined up, and then put my leg on and keep coming forward up the hill into the coffin, land and ride positive over the ditch at B, move forward for the first two strides after landing, and jump the corner at C a little more towards the middle. I did exactly that (sometimes I can follow instructions) and Presto was actually taking enough initiative and powering forward on his own that it made the 5 ride a bit short. Better a bit short than a bit long there, though.

Then we had a little downhill combo with a barn to a roll with a drop landing, 90 degree right turn to a log. He was really bold there. Then it was across the field to the weldon’s wall, then over the book jump, and around to a rolltop before the water, an upbank out of the water (loathe entirely but it rode fine), to a skinnyish brush.

He thought about being a little sassy to the brush but once he realized he had work to do he got on with it.

Then it was back downhill over the palisade, down to the big brush table. Speaking of not brushing the brush… my friend was the TD and she said the brush on that one measured 1.25m. I can totally believe that, with how high I was in the air.

After that we had a quick turn back off the fenceline to some angled cabins, which he was exceptionally good about. I didn’t have the best line there and didn’t get him to the A very well, but he did his job and picked his way through it anyway. That’s my boy.

From there we just had two more jumps, both of which he popped over like no big deal. He was still very full of running when we crossed the finish, not breathing hard or sweating at all.

Granted, I was a bit slow and didn’t take the most economical turns, so we had 5 seconds of time. I ran without a watch because I mostly just wanted a good confident run and didn’t want to be distracted by time, so I didn’t much care about that. The time penalties dropped us from 4th to 7th.

I was super pleased with his XC, Presto felt confident and professional and honestly the course felt easy for him and nothing looked particularly huge or hard. I mean, it shouldn’t, it was an early season course at a level we’ve been at for almost two years, but after such a long break it was nice to put that one in the confidence bank and get a good start to season.

There’s some video here: https://www.instagram.com/breedrideevent/reel/DEvB7xYPgHw/#

Most of all I’m really starting to see noticeable improvement in both his jump and his gallop, which is what I care about most. His balance, his power, and his technique have all drastically improved in the past couple months and seeing the videos from this show really highlighted that. I’m happy with his progress and feel like we’re finally back on the right track!

I’m not sure there’s anyone in the world who has shopped for a saddle more than one time and been excited about literally any subsequent time. It should be exciting, theoretically, (the word “shopping” is in it, after all) but finding something that fits you and your horse seems to turn into a headache at the best of times and a nightmare at the worst. So when I realized that Presto’s old Custom Saddlery Wolfgang Solo did not fit him anymore in a way that no amount of re-flocking could fix, I truly felt nothing but dread.

My first instinct was to go back to Custom. I liked my previous saddle just fine, and they have lots of options. But cue headache number one when not a single rep I contacted ever got back to me. In a fit of frustration I reached out to my Arion rep, Kristin (who I got my jump saddle from and have remained in contact with), knowing that she had some used saddles of various brands and thinking one of them might work. Mostly I reached out to her because my experiences with her and my jump saddle have been so overwhelmingly positive… she’s great at fitting saddles, she communicates, and she actually cares very much about getting it right. Qualities that have proven over the years to be difficult to find.

Kristin came out and confirmed that my Custom really really truly did not fit, and asked if I wanted to sit in the Arion dressage saddle demo.

I’ll admit that despite loving my jump saddle, I originally wasn’t really interested. I’ve sat in something like seven different French dressage saddle models across 3 different brands and didn’t like any of them even a fraction as much as I’d liked my Custom. I truly thought I just did not like French dressage saddles, period. But then again, I figured since she was there already, so I might as well sit in it, confirm that it was a pass, and at least have more info to go off of for my shopping journey.

I was entirely shocked when I sat in it and loved it. And even more shocked when I cantered and found that I wasn’t actually struggling to keep my butt in the seat. I genuinely thought I just couldn’t sit my horse’s canter that well, y’all. You hear people say all the time that the right saddle can make such a big difference, but… it’s true. And if it can instantly manage to make me feel marginally more competent, even better. I felt so much closer and more connected to his back through my seat, and like I was sitting much more balanced overall.

I was like 2-3 strides into canter when I whipped my eyes over to Kristin and was like OH MY GOD. She chuckled. Evil woman knew exactly what she was doing to me when she had oh-so-nonchalantly asked if I wanted to sit in it. I can respect that.

So anyway, I ordered one. Mainly because I know Arion fits my horse well, I trust Kristin, and I trust the brand. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with them and so have the friends I’ve referred, so if I love the saddle, there’s not much more to discuss really. Why put myself through the torture that is saddle shopping if it could be as easy and beginning and ending there? The thought of trialing, shipping, returning, fitting, etc etc however many saddles it would take to find the right one… hard pass. That stuff adds up quickly cost-wise anyway, and I needed something sooner rather than later.

Was it more than I wanted to spend? Yes. Isn’t everything, at this point? (cue deranged perpetually horse-poor-girl laughter) But there’s a lot to be said for ease and peace of mind, and the fact that I really fell in love with the saddle.

Plus she has glitter on her butt. Did I mention that? I feel like it’s important.

Anyway, after the impulsive saddle ordering, I only had to wait about 5 weeks for it to arrive. Would have been sooner if not for UPS customs being backed up, but such is life at the holidays. Either way, it was still hella fast for a fully custom saddle from France. IMO Arion has done two key things that really set them apart from all the other French brands (aside from make great saddles, of course): 1) super customer service. 2) quick turnaround time. Some brands are operating at like 16+ weeks for a new saddle, which is just ABSURD to me.

I had it in time for the December POP show, as in it arrived to Kristin the night before. She drove out to the show to bring it to me, ensure the fit was good, and watch me ride in it so she could give it her seal of approval and make sure we liked it. We were all pleased. It was perfect.

The more I’ve ridden in it, the more I love it. The balance is just chef’s kiss, and several of the things I’ve been struggling with for years have magically improved. Which kinda just annoys me to know that a better saddle could have helped a long time ago, but ya know… here we are now. We live and we learn, right? Hopefully?

As far as the customer service aspect, I really can’t recommend Kristin and Arion enough. My experiences with other saddle companies have ranged from fine to horrific, but for me Arion just stands head and shoulders above the rest. Having a company that really cares about getting it right makes all the difference in the world. The horror stories you hear about other saddle companies are just absolutely insane (which is why I steered entirely clear of them for both of my more recent saddle purchases). If you find yourself in any of the territories Kristin covers (she was originally in the midwest, now in north Florida, but I think she still makes regular trips to the midwest? I dunno, just ask her… if not her, she can recommend someone), definitely give her a shout. She’s the best.

And for the record, I’m not the only one that loves it. Presto had a training ride on Monday with Ellie and one of the first things she said when she got off was how much she liked the saddle and how nicely it sat on him. It’s winning everyone over, one booty at a time.

I also feel like I need to give a quick shoutout to the accessories too, while we’re on the subject. The girth is one of my new favorite things, I’ve not seen one quite like it. It’s quite thin, soft, flexible leather that molds right to the horse, and is nicely padded in the middle. Even Presto, who is typically a sheepskin princess, seems to really like it.

I also nabbed some of the mono dressage leathers, which are just as stunning. I have so much Arion tack at this point and have yet to be disappointed by it, so why not add more? In for a penny, in for a whole bunch of pennies. (that’s totally how the saying goes)

Overall, I once again have no regrets in going with Arion again and I’m glad to be able to add a seemingly rare positive saddle shopping experience to the interwebs. Big thank you to Kristin and Arion. I didn’t even dare to imagine that I’d end up with such a nice, beautiful, high quality dressage saddle, but here we are. It’s perfect, I love it, Presto loves it, and I can’t wait to actually crack on with our training in a saddle that is helping us rather than hindering us. Magical.